Tuesday, May 11, 2010

There is nothing nice about the Nicetown section of Philadelphia. Seems like something is always jumping off down there. Monday night something jumped off in Nicetown that should give us all cause for pause.

I bet Uncle Larry never expected to die at the hands of a young man who looks like him after serving honorably to protect his country. But, sadly, he did. And the senseless and heinous nature of the crime and its aftermath is mind boggling.

"Nicetown, Lawrence Bennett was known as "Uncle Larry," a friendly, 68-year-old military veteran who complemented his monthly Social Security checks by doing handyman work for neighbors, usually offering up jokes as he worked.

'He was always making you smile,' said neighbor Jermaine Gindraw, 39. 'He was a good dude.' Monday night, police were still searching for 17-year-old Tyrone Roberson, who they say shot Bennett to death after he had cleaned up the yard of the house in which the young man allegedly was living."

Honestly, the kids here in Philly can get a gun easier than they can get a PlayStation, and it's ugly out here. Spend one day with me in one of our criminal court rooms and I guarantee you that you will go home and hug your kids. This crime was senseless and horrific. But what happened after, in my opinion, was almost as bad.

"Police remained at the scene of the shooting as evening fell, after a group of the suspected gunman's relatives and friends had attacked and beaten a group of neighbors angry over Bennett's killing...One woman, who told reporters she had witnessed the shooting, was pinned against a car and punched in the face repeatedly...... "It's very brazen," Capt. James Clark, of the police Homicide Unit, said of the shooting. "To do this in broad daylight, to shoot an unarmed 68-year-old man - we want to get this person off the streets as soon as possible."

I know that had to be a misprint. The little thug's family and friends put a beat down on outraged citizens after their man popped some old guy's top. Wow! "City of brotherly love" my ass.

I bet the killer's father knows where he is...wait, did I say father? I am sorry, what was I thinking? I am sure the sperm donor is long gone. [PSAANNOUNCEMENT: To the father of Tyrone Roberson, if you are reading this and I am mistaken about you, please reach out to me so that I can correct my delineation of your character on my blog. Hurry, I can only hold my breath for so long. ]

"Neighbors said the youth was living at the house with his mother and grandmother, and that Roberson's mother ran up to the scene moments after the shooter fired his gun.'She screamed, 'Oh, no,' said a witness. 'Then he ran off down the street and she ran after him.' Police who searched the house described it as a "flophouse," with mattresses strewed about and raw sewage in the basement...'You could smell the weed as you walked in," said an officer."'

Yeah, that's the ticket. I bet the little [alleged] killer was the man of the house. Nice of Mom to go running after the the little shooter. I wonder if she caught him?

OK, here comes the part where we humanize the victim.

"Bennett lived by himself in a small apartment around the corner. His landlord, Keith Jackson, a SEPTA bus driver, did not charge him any rent. 'He was fixing the place up for me, putting in new walls and Sheetrock, so I didn't charge him anything,' said Jackson, who stopped by the apartment in the hours after the shooting. 'He was like family to me.'

Bennett's apartment was sparse but clean. A cantaloupe sat on the counter, with a knife next to it. A container of chicken-liver salad and an onion were the main things in the refrigerator. His bed was made. Bennett had attended the University of the Arts and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, said his sister Sylvia Traylor, who came to the apartment to collect her brother's belongings.

He served in the Air Force and was a successful car salesman at a now defunct dealership on Broad Street, she said.

For years, Bennett lived in a home on a nearby street with his wife and stepson, Traylor said. But they divorced and the son no longer lives in the neighborhood, she said.'I have to go call his son,' she said, crying." [Article]

Don't cry Ms. Traylor. Save your tears. You are going to need them for the next victim.

Before I go, I would like to correct something I stated in my post last night: I wrongly implied that there were no people of color on the current Supreme Court. Well, I was wrong. There is currently one person of color on the court. My apologies to Judge Sotomayor.

Wow Field, this just sad and wrong. What's the matter with this country and our people? No way we can blame Obama for this one. I personally think that if your kid (under 18) gets locked up for a serious violent crime, the parent should be sued for criminal negligence. But after just typing that, I can think of the civil liberties and the kind of legal issues that could arise. Still, that momma and grandma have to be held responsible.

Where are the Black leaders and the clergy? How many folks put money in the synagogues, churches and mosques of Nicetown and why haven't they stepped up? I give my former pastor in New York credit, he's sick of the burying babies, so he stepped -- he's now an active gang mediator in Southern Westchester. But there too few folks like him in the pulpit. Too many are sitting around counting the offering and winking at the choir director.

In Mexico, guns are illegal for normal citizens. So they bring over dope, sell it, and then use the money to buy guns, and go home to fight the power. Of course the power in Mexico can't really provide many resources so they come here.

Why is it so easy to make this a Black issue? This is an American issue. Those kids at Columbine weren't Black. That guy that killed all those people a few months ago in Alabama wasn't Black. The kid that shot up Virgina Tech wasn't Black. But what they all had in common was they were all American.

What the heck does the "Great Society" have to do with it? I'd say it's more the NRA's fault, if you want to blame an entity. And, please tell me: How is this the Democrats' fault? The republicans are more to blame than anyone, always screaming about our "right to bear arms".

Quit setting up straw men, all of y'all, seriously. Debate the matter at hand.

Mr. Field, you have some CRAZY-AZZ people commenting on your blog. I'm done.

First, you must be mistaken about Bennett attending Wharton. If he had, he wouldn't have been living where he was.

Secondly, you owe Justice Clarence Thomas your deepest apologies for not acknowledging him as 'the' greatest Black Supreme Court Justice in post-racial history. Clarence is a gentleman and a scholar, a fine man who represents his race well.

Obviously, you are jealous of CT because of his unbiased legal skills and good looks.

Filled Negro - this happened at 56 and Lancaster. Right down the street from Overbrook High School. Likely near the old "Georgia Boy" soul food restaurant on the left hand side of the street as I recall it.

What made this White cop think that everyone would buy his story that a BLACK MAN WITH CORNROWS in his head had shot the cop in the shoulder? Why not a White boy from Conshohocken PA who came into West Philly to buy drugs? What about that scenario would not have been as credible?

Thank goodness for Police Chief Ramsey and Mayor Nutter. Even though they green lighted the shake down in the area, looking for a Black man with cornrows in his head they also set up an investigation to validate the words of the White cop who was a 21 year veteran.

Filled Negro you should be empowered with a new MISSION!! How many "Brothers" now sit in jail because Sargent Ralston MADE UP the facts in their arrest record? How did he work his way through the ranks of Philly's Finest WITH this racist corruption within him?

How many OTHER Sargent Ralston's populate the Philadelphia Police force? Did they REALLY think that they were going to get over like this? There is no more MAYOR RIZZO. We have MAYOR NUTTER working for our permanent interests.

I'll stand with you on this one. If you need assistance pulling every arrest record of Sgt Ralston to have the verdict overturned because he is a racist liar, with the goal of turning the convicted criminal back upon the streets of Philly in our mutual support of JUSTICE - I am with you man.

Just tell me what I need to do?

Think about the lawsuit against the city. We are going to bankrupt these fools with our class action lawsuit.

Yo Trasher.. where is ye? You can yak your head off about dem Jews yet you get all silent about some young black male who will kill an elderly man at the drop of a hat. If he was a Jew you would have posted 10 times by now Typical angry black male. Angry at a small slight but not a huge injustice caused by yer own people

Police remained at the scene of the shooting as evening fell, after a group of the suspected gunman's relatives and friends had attacked and beaten a group of neighbors angry over Bennett's killing. One woman, who told reporters she had witnessed the shooting, was pinned against a car and punched in the face repeatedly.

The problem is wicked, evil people who simply don't give a **** about other human beings.

Trying to take guns away from law-abiding citizens because of failures like those detailed in the article makes no sense.

Horrible story. I'm still on the fence on this one. Too many laws aren't being enforced ... Faheem Thomas-Childs killed on his way to school, all four men having an OK-Corral moment in front of a school had previously been arrested for carry illegal guns, not convicted, not in jail, just another "catch-and-release" response by the PPD.

I thought the whole point was to catch people with illegal guns, give them 1-3 years MANDATORY MINIMUMs, and keep folks safe. Too many laws are basically unenforced in philly, adding 5 more won't change that...

Thanks but no thanks Destructive Wingnut,we have the Sgt. Ralston situation under control.

BTW GWhizz, that story is on my sidebar.

"This is not a black issue, the cultural rot of leftism affects everyone, even though it has hit the black community the hardest.

The one factor that correlates with this situation is not race or education or religion or poverty - it is whether or not there are two parents in the home."

Anon 1:02 a.m. that's a good point, except, of course, for the "leftisim" part. Thank you.

Also, see what TP said.

"Secondly, you owe Justice Clarence Thomas your deepest apologies for not acknowledging him as 'the' greatest Black Supreme Court Justice in post-racial history. Clarence is a gentleman and a scholar, a fine man who represents his race well.

Obviously, you are jealous of CT because of his unbiased legal skills and good looks."

[quote]Secondly, you owe Justice Clarence Thomas your deepest apologies for not acknowledging him as 'the' greatest Black Supreme Court Justice in post-racial history. Clarence is a gentleman and a scholar, a fine man who represents his race well. [/quote]

Anon #50:

More accurately someone should do a detailed analysis:

WHY Obama called Clarence Thomas - a Black male from Yale -"UNQUALIFIED" for the Supreme Court yet he promoted Elena Kagan - a Jewish White Woman to the court.

IF there were fewer SOLD OUT Black Journalists they would be curious to find:

1) Was it Thomas' lack of Ivy League Pedigree? He is from Yale, she from Harvard. This can't be it.

2) It is his judicial experience? Thomas was a judge. As President now Obama values DIVERSITY in a person with NO such experience when Kagan is queued up.

3) WHY when it came to Chief Justice Roberts did Senator Obama rattle off a list of qualifications for a judge, have then nominee Roberts meet them AND STILL VOTE AGAINST Roberts? Does Elena Kagan MEET Obama's ARBITRARY list? Why make the list in the first place if it was fake?

Sadly since a large number of Black Progressive-Fundamentalists are as irrational as were an "All White Jury" when it came to a BLACK MAN in the past when it comes to Brother Justice Clarence Thomas. They are not interested in the least to find Obama's line of thinking, exposing the inconsistencies. (DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH FOLKS - FILLED NEGRO IS NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER'S NEW POLICY TO NOT READ TERROR SUSPECTS THEIR RIGHTS UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS. Holder ain't Bush.)

THEY AGREE WITH OBAMA'S OPPOSITION TO THOMAS and will follow whatever Kabuki process he sets up to eventually arrive at his DISAPPROVAL of those THEY disapprove of.

"Why is it so easy to make this a Black issue? This is an American issue. Those kids at Columbine weren't Black. That guy that killed all those people a few months ago in Alabama wasn't Black. The kid that shot up Virgina Tech wasn't Black. But what they all had in common was they were all American.

There are sick, deranged folks all over. China has some of the best "gun control" in the world. Once someone makes the decision, they'll kill you with whatever they can get their hands on.You get caught with an illegal gun, you should automatically go to prison for ten years.

At least, the Chinese do one thing right...they'd take Tyrone outside, put a bullet in the back of his head, and send his family a bill for the bullet.

I think the families response was one of the saddest parts of the story. We want to blame the fathers for not being there for their children, but some of these females are just sick. It seems to be a common response now that the females are protecting their murderous family members. Her in Milwaukee, the same response was given. A man had murdered a college student and was at court for sentencing. The murderers family decided to shout "I hate you" at the murdered son's family. It was one of the most disgusting displays I have ever seen. The father said he didnt know why they were saying that because his son was dead. The mentatlity of no consequences is deepening!

How many Black youths are like this ? , a lot. I can remember when you did not even dare talk back to an elder in the Hood. Your Father or your Mother would kick your ass when they found out.This in my opinion is why we need our own schools , you know back when the teacher still lived in the hood.Forced busing and no child left behind all that other bullshit has done nothing but mess up our children's heads.The media driven images of how you are suppose to behave when you are Black. Just look at all the nonsense on T.V.

Its one thing to get on a blog and talk about it, but why wont some of you well read educated Brothers and Sisters take advantage of the cheap housing market and move back to the hood and serve as an example like Black people used to do.

"Its one thing to get on a blog and talk about it, but why wont some of you well read educated Brothers and Sisters take advantage of the cheap housing market and move back to the hood and serve as an example like Black people used to do."

Well, "Man of Action OG", why don't you lead the way? Let us know how it goes.

The question is both -- what in our culture breeds such hatred and violence in the hearts of children and about our countries allows for almost anyone to get a gun.

Micheal Moore offered an interesting and probably the most complete perspective. Guns are only half of the equation, its a culture of alienation and violence that has indoctrinated us from birth.

We have culture of anxiety and fear, bombarded with images of violence (physical, psychological and economic) in media and are constantly pushing our people to the edge through our take-no-prisoners plutocratic political economy. And on top of that, we enforce a warped hyper-individualism, we don't embrace family or community except in the most superficial terms (see the hippy-dippy commune left and the family values right) Hence, we are some angry, lonely mofos in A-Merry-Ca.

On top of that, we use guns to feel secure. Nothing worse than giving firearms to a nation of anxious, emotionally isolated, angry and insecure people. On words, we're a nation of p**sies with guns in their hands.

Stir and bake for 40 years and you get -- well, we all watch the news.

@OG: It seems like it would be that easy, but its not. Do you subjogate your children to the issues while trying to be an example to the whole neighborhood? It doesnt change over night. And while your trying to be the example, being victimized over and over again. I lived in a neighborhood like that here in Milwaukee. I am a college graduate and at the time was living in the inner city with my husband and new born son. Shots rang out constantly. Car was broken into multiple times within a few months span; stroller stolen. I started to have dreams about my son being shot in the head as I held him in my arms. It is a war out there. How many people you know would move into a war zone consciously? I might be able to do it if it were just me; but I am not willing to have my sons suffer so that I can help others sons and daughters.

I am there , and you would be amazed at these young Black Men who have almost no older brothers they respect.They do not even know any Black professionals.They see a lot of 40+ brothers trying to remain 21.

This is sad stuff... where I'm from I saw it all the time. My fam shipped me off to the military in the early 80s, it aint for everyone but some of these young blood need to do something productive with their lives if they are going to kill or be killed anyway.

You would be surprised at the number of young Men who live in the better neighborhoods , but come downtown to do their dirt. I do not think it is as much were you live as how you live.I got 4 Sons 8,19,21,24. The oldest has always helped mentor the younger ones.One is playing Big East football. the others are gainfully employed , and in school. I know I got blessed.

but you can kill with a knife or other legal means. so that's where the gun control argument falls flat. believe me, i support gun control.

when my teenaged son was little, i didn't want him to have any toy weapons. i soon realized all he needed to do was pick up a stick and aim it like a gun!

i gradually gave in over the years, and guns, slings shots, etc, came into our lives. now he has a collection of BB and paintball guns. he has never shot a real one and as far as i know has never even seen one. but i can tell you the first thing he always does is shave off the orange tips to make them look real.

i have never bought him a gun...he is 13 now and i refuse to ever buy him violent video games with gun play too!

i had a 6 yr old student who was traumatized by the games his 26 yr old dad forced him to "man up" and play...it became a DHS issue...

it is not just kids obsessed and lobotomized by play stations etc...they learn these addictions from their young toxic video game addicted parents who never buy them a single book/desk/journal/diary!....

_ May 12, 2010: A man with a cleaver hacks seven children and two adults to death at a kindergarten in Hanzhong city in Shaanxi province. He then kills himself.

_ April 30, 2010: A farmer attacks and wounds five kindergarten students with a hammer in Shandong province's Weifang city before burning himself to death. The man also strikes a teacher. None of the children has life-threatening injuries.

_ April 29, 2010: A 47-year-old unemployed man attacks 4-year-olds in a kindergarten in Jiangsu province, wounding 29 of them. Two teachers and a security guard are also hurt.

_ April 28, 2010: A teacher on sick leave due to mental illness breaks into a primary school in Leizhou city in Guangdong province in southern China and stabs 18 students and a teacher.

_ April 12, 2010: Yang Jiaqin, 40, hacks to death a second grader and an elderly woman near an elementary school in Xizhen village of the southern Guangxi region. Yang's family was scheduled the next day to send him to a hospital for psychological treatment for a mood disorder.

_ March 23, 2010: Zheng Minsheng, 42, kills eight children in a knife attack at the Nanping Experimental Elementary School in south China's Fujian province. Zheng is executed April 28.

Damn - they need a few black coonservative Porch Monkeys to tell them how screwed up the black folks who did this are!

Wait...This is China... There aren't any black folks... There ain't no guns...

i clearly blamed turbo breeding and inbred amorality for what ails masses of violent black kids

i was simply adding that violent video games are one more ingredient in the toxic generational slime that defines america beyond black kids...iethe white male columbine killers were obsessed with video games

incidentally, many trifling young black parents today are too sorry to pay electric bills that play stations require...

Kids learn from personal experience. Owning a gun is fine in the right setting, which does not include living in a city apartment.

However, here in NY City rougly 1.2 black and hispanic victims are killed by gunfire every day. Many are teenagers, and almost all are young.

Two black teenagers were murdered at a Mother's Day party in the Bronx. Their killers were two black men, aged 20 and 24, who got the 45 caliber murder weapon from the father of one of them. So much for good parental guidance. Hopefully, the father will find himself on trial for murder along with his son.

Actually, there is significant disagreement among behavioral scientists about the specific effects of video game violence.

It is agreed that there is a link between video game violence and increased aggression, however, there is disagreement over how to weight the influence of video game violence as opposed to other environmental and psychological factors. All causal relationships are not equal.

Field this violence should give us pause. I feel and share your frustration as I am working on the issue of youth violence as one of the many issues I am taking on this summer. I think its time that folks really examine the reasons behind all the violence.

Some of the finger pointing is just foolish and definitely unprodcutive. An enlarged social welfare net does not encourage people to kill one another. Leftist philosophy is not the culprit in the killing either. In fact it has been a long time since this country could call itself liberal in any sense of the word.

And blaming the black leadership and black clergy for a problem deeply embedded in American society is not fair either, especially considering that they hold as many and as diverse opinions on how to solve the problem.

Clearly there is something missing and I think that it behooves everyone who is concerned to either get involved on the policy level- jobs, hope for the future, an adequate education - have to be factored in as solutions. Or get involved on the personal level and help who you can.

It is obvious to me that a society founded on violence is simply not going to escape being touched by it themselves.

Nobody wants to hear this but there are folks beating and killing Iraqis and Afghanis for fun and its important to note that many troops have reported killing civilians, while knowing they were civilians. They have also been caught and admitted to killing folks who were clear not combative at the time they were killed.

I read a story in a book about a young soldier who befriended a young Iraqi girl, a preteen. He would give her MRE's to take to her family. She would regularly appoach a fenced in area and he would toss it over the fence. Well one day just for fun one of his buddies blew her head open. Supposedly she had gotten too close to the fence but the GI said that the kid who murdered her had seen her approaching before and the girl had nothing on her.

Most of you saw the video of the helicopter pilots laughing and delighting in murdering some Iraqis who were clearly not posing a threat to them.

And who can deny the violence of the Massey mine folks who sent folks into a mine that they knew was unsafe.

And there are lots of other industrialists who let unsafe products pass, sometimes knowing that someone may die or become ill or injured. But they let it go because its more cost effective to pay for a few dead folks, rather than admit their mistake or recall their faulty or deadly product.

BP gambled with the lives of 11 workers and the livlihood of many others by failing to install a cut off valve that would have at least lessened the disaster. They didn't use a gun, but they sure are culpable of murder and have robbed human beings and will have destroyed valuable wildlife.

But we lock Micheal Vick up for years and we bemoan inner city violence like it comes from the sky blue.

We live in a violent system that condones violence in lots of subtle ways and yet we are surprised when those who are at the bottom and the most frustrated turn violent.

OG: I am sure it can be done and I am glad to hear that you are one that did it. But its not for everyone and everyone should give in the way that they are comfortable with; but the point is everyone should be giving.

Mr House NegroThe Tolan boy who was shot by a Ballaire Tx policeman few months ago remember ?Well the POPO was found not guilty yesterday.Ps|Choose to call you you House Negro for denying the Palestinians the same rights u bitch about.One love

Nobody wants to hear this but there are folks beating and killing Iraqis and Afghanis for fun and its important to note that many troops have reported killing civilians, while knowing they were civilians.

Wrong. There are millions of people who want those stories, and among those millions are people who prosecute soldiers for criminal acts.

Given the news coverage of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is highly unlikely your stories are anything more than the usual war stories that have grown in the re-telling.

Have some innocent civilians been killed? Obviously, yes. And every time it happens the stories hit the front page of the NY Times.

Yes, the video of the helicopter gunship firing on the wrong people has been seen everywhere. And in the video you can see two people on the ground who are carrying weapons.

Even though all proper steps were taken to obtain permission to fire, mistakes happened. However, it was clear from the video that all participants were operating according to correct procedure. No wild west, out-of-control cowboys.

AB, i do feel bad that the guns crept in. i didn't have total control over that. there are other influences--like his father and his friends--that i can't always block. and obviously, i have less and less influence the older my son gets.

kids buy into guns as power just as old men buy into sports cars as youth and hooter hot wings as sex....

You've never seen an ad for guns unless you buy gun magazines. But you've seen plenty of ads for cars and hot wings. Again, it is the objective of the ad-maker to get you to buy something. Not to commit an act of violence.

On the other hand, kids or young males who shoot at other humans almost always have prior hands-on experience with violence and they have been close to acts of gun violence. They also have experience or knowledge of people in prison for violent crimes.

Immersion in video games is nothing compared with the effects of living with physical violence and all the pathologies that life brings.

AB - if violence videos were in anyway related to street violence -- the Tokyo, Singapore and many other South East Asian metropolises would look like the South Bronx by now. Its deeper than that.

No doubt, violent media is apart of it, but singling out video games is well disproven meme. It contributes to aggression, but its hardly the primary contributor to youth violence.

Video games (the over favorite for the nanny state elites, hip-hop and metal) is just an intellectual straw man. Economics and overall stress are more likely to make you a killer than Metal Gear Solid 4.

There are bigger issues at play. As someone pointed out, American culture is at its heart a culture of violence. Like I said, we're a culture of neurotic bed wetters carrying AK-47 to shoot our perceived boogie men.

Our politics, economy and media reward acceptable forms of aggression and competition. Cooperation and analysis are see and 'faggy', to use Mike Judge's words from Idiocracy.

ABLike I said, it may be an ingredient, but is waaay down the list in comparison to poverty and other economic anxieties, as well as other factors such as family and community.

Even though I love video games, I'm very leery about them being in the hands of children. Frankly, I don't think an 8 year old should play Warzone or Call to Duty.

(And frankly, neither do the vendors -- those games are aimed at people my brother's age and older - age 20 to 40. Most responsible parents get their kids a Wii and play Mario Kart. If your 10 year old is playing Devil May Cry 4 or Bio Shock with no supervision, you're just a bad parent.)

I also realize that Electronic Arts and Sony don't raise your kids any more than Jay-Z and BET does. CSI and True Blood didn't ship your job over to Guatemala, which made hit the sauce a little too much and hit your wife.

AB - You deal realize that 'turbo-breeding' is a result/outgrowth of a permanent political underclass.

The more educated a woman is, the longer she waits to have children and the fewer she has. For the most part, a PhD candidate is probably gonna think twice before letting any dude dive in without a helmet.

Hell, we can run all over Africa and India educating women and teaching them about birth control. We might need to drop a few more of those NGO types in Philly and Compton.

You said it sister AB we can talk around it all we want but their really is a disease causing all this illness.

I was trying to make the point earlier that we live in a violent system that consistently and purposely ignore the real needs of human beings and thus we shouldn't be surprised when these chickens come home to roost.

And then anon said this:

"Even though all proper steps were taken to obtain permission to fire, mistakes happened. However, it was clear from the video that all participants were operating according to correct procedure. No wild west, out-of-control cowboys."

Talk about missing the point! The so-called correct procedure was immoral itself or maybe the anon did not really see the video.

The whole thing (wars) are wrong and violent and we are surprised by street violence in a country that openly promotes stealing whole countries and murdering and displacing their populations. And add to that they use Afghanistan's drug trade to their advantage reeking even more havoc on their fellow human beings.

This article sounds so common to me. My called for me to pick him up from school after staying over only to say "Mom come around to the back. There are police cars and a paramedic here." All I could tell hime was to be careful, stay out of the way until I got there. When I arrived I saw six police cars and the paremedics had left. There is always somethiing happening at his school. I just want my son to make it away from there safe and sound.

This is an all too often occurrence today. These young males with no male role models are a danger to public safety esp those that live in theses mostly black neighborhoods.

Contrast that to a news report of an older gentleman in a deteriorated neighborhood of DC who stabbed one of the young thugs populating the area. He is reported to have said he was tired of being pushed around.

The mother of the "victim" is claiming she doesn't understand why anyone would react that way but who is she kidding. That area is known for being unsafe and crime-infested.

Field, what do you mean by the next victim? I send all of that Negative talk back to you, as a matter of fact, are their any Black youth in Philly, that are not STREET PIRATE'S? can you please for once, let some of these WHITE PEOPLE, that comment know, PHILLY is NOT saturated with BLACK YOUTH MURDERER'S!

My heart go's out to this black man, but, to be honest, this fall's at the feet of ALL Black men in America! see to be honest, black men of today are concerned about these thing's! 1.SPORT'S2.SPORT'S3.The RIGHT'S of HOMOSEXUAL'S!4.The RIGHT'S of HOMOSEXUAL'S!now prove me wrong, well, you can't, cause a Black man of today, will stand up for the RIGHT'S of a Black man to marry another man, before they will go into the Ghetto and challenge a Gang member!

Black kid's are acting like heathen's because, they do NOT see Strength and Authority in the Older Black men! most black men of today, will accept anything! no way in this world, this black child should have been Allowed to Kill this black man, but, he was given permission to do so!

Field, you want to talk about this young man's father? please, as if you are Above him, as if, he is beneath you! as if he is scum under your shoe! please, who made you Judge and Jury? did God? I think NOT!

Field, you say, you (Mentor kid's) well, YOU are NOT doing enough! you should have YOUR behind in the Trench's! get out of your SAFETY ZONE! go out and find some Brave Black men, go walk those street's at night in those Vicious Fatherless black neighborhood's, I Dare you to do it! but, NO, you won't do that! why? cause it's easy to be a Safe Black man than to be a Challenged Black man! a Challenged black man, will Stand when all is falling around him! he will Stand, if he has to stand alone!

To you people, that don't agree with me, GOOD! PLEASE DON'T! see I don't comment to be agreed with, I prefer to Stand alone!

N_S "Even though all proper steps were taken to obtain permission to fire, mistakes happened. However, it was clear from the video that all participants were operating according to correct procedure. No wild west, out-of-control cowboys."

Your credibility is hovering just above zero, about now.

I'll give you another month of posting here, and it'll be zilch, nada.

"Permission is given, a voice says "light them all up," and the helicopter opens up on the group with its machine gun – apparently killing all but two of the men. One unarmed man who escaped the first salvo and ran across the street into an empty lot is also tracked and killed.

"WikiLeaks identified the second unarmed survivor as Mr. Chmagh, who runs along a row of houses until he too, is shot, and lies writhing on the ground – apparently unable to get up. The helicopter keeps its cross-hairs on the injured man while one of the US soldiers jokingly pleads over his radio "all you have to do is pickup up a weapon" – which would have allowed him to finish the man off under US rules of engagement at the time. There is no weapon visible.

"Shortly thereafter, a minivan pulls up alongside the injured Iraqi. From aboard the US helicopter, a soldier asks, "Can I shoot?" and is then heard requesting "permission to engage?" At that point, another voice – presumably an officer not on scene – asks if the van is "picking up the wounded" and is told that they are. Two Iraqis from the van carry the wounded man around the side of the van to load him inside.

"An American voice with the call sign "Bushmaster 7" says, "Roger, engage." One of the helicopters blankets the van with machine-gun fire. The two Iraqis who were loading the wounded man inside scattered, but are quickly cut down as they try to flee."

[quote]Some of the finger pointing is just foolish and definitely unprodcutive. An enlarged social welfare net does not encourage people to kill one another. Leftist philosophy is not the culprit in the killing either. In fact it has been a long time since this country could call itself liberal in any sense of the word.[/quote]I am working with the hopes that I can get you to display some INTELLECTUAL CONSISTENCY here.

Lets go back 50 years ago and focus upon the KLAN BOYS of MS, AL, and GA. WHEN THEY USED VIOLENCE as a means to cover for their "White Trash-edness" as they feared that Blacks would move out from underneath them economically and socially ARE YOU PREPARED to apply to THEM who are "KILLERS OF BLACKS" the same damned rationalizations that you cherry pick TO-DAMNED-DAY?

Maybe it is news to you, but the idea behind removing Saddam and creating a free democratic capitalist society in Iraq boils down to this: free people in pursuit of their personal goals have little time for terrorism.

The most effective way to end -- or vastly reduce -- islamic terrorism is through changing the culture of the middle east. Nothing except the US military is scarier to middle-east despots than a free democratic capitalistic nation in the neighborhood.

Israel is a good example. The neighboring muslim nations are slums, yet Israel thrives. As people in Iraq are learning, prosperity is at hand. All that's needed is to end the self-defeating, self-imposed subservience to a religion that promises misery.

Unfortunately for Saddam, Iraq is more-or-less in the middle of the middle east, which makes it the best place from which freedom, democracy and capitalism should radiate. Of course Iraq also has the oil reserves to finance its move from benighted backwater to modern nation.

It's a tough process; muslims are dedicated to repeating their failed ways. But the country is lurching ahead.

country and our people? No way we can blame Obama for this one. I personally think that if your kid (under 18) gets locked up for a serious violent crime, the parent should be sued for criminal negligence. But after just typing that, I can think of the civil liberties and the kind of legal issues that could arise.

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